I can not use the MLS to find deals!

Getting discounts through the MLS can be tough now because prices are beginning to rise in several area's. But, you have to remain focused on who you're targeting.

You're basically trying to do one of two things:

1) Find a motivated seller to buy at a deep discount, and sell to an end buyer at a discounted price that is higher than your purchase price.

or

2) Find a property in an area that there is high demand and buy it at a price that you know you can sell it for a higher price.

If you found a property on MLS that you bought in an area that the houses aren't on the market for more than 15 days, you know that that's a hot area. This usually means that there are more buyer's than there are sellers. So, if you got a property in the area for the seller's asking price, but you know that you can sell it to a buyer for $5K more, then does it really matter if you buy it for the seller's asking price (or even a little more).

I know investors in my area who are buying properties for more than the asking price, and STILL wholesaling them.

Also, remember that every house is not for every buyer. I have buyers on my buyers list that I would never send certain properties to them, because it doesn't match their buying criteria. Yet, I could sell that same property to a different buyer on my list all day long.

Buying at a discount means nothing if you don't have anyone who will buy it from you. Because, here is the simple truth... A house is ONLY worth what someone will pay for it. If every house in a neighborhood has been selling for $140K - $160K, but no one will offer you more than $120K for your house, then your house is worth $120K. And, on the reverse, if every house in a neighborhood has been selling for $140K - $160K, but you constantly get offers for $200K, then your house is worth $200K.

Don't get discouraged! Keep pushing forward! Find a local investor's group to get support and encouragement from, and you will succeed!

Hope this helps,

Check your state law. I know in California, real estate agents are required to present all offers to sellers...

California Model Multiple Listing Services Rules
9.5 Submission of Offers and Counter-Offers. The listing broker shall submit to the seller/landlord all offers until closing unless precluded by law, governmental rule or expressly instructed by the seller/landlord otherwise. The cooperating broker acting for buyer/tenant, shall submit to buyer/tenant all offers and counter-offers until acceptance.

You have a lazy agent. Find another one.

You're not alone. The toughest part is to find motivated seller's who will sell at a substantial discount. To my surprise, most people here complain about finding buyers. In my opinion, finding buyers is the easy part, they're a dime a dozen. The real challenge is trying to find discounted properties for those buyers.

If anyone has properties under contract in So Cal contact me please. I'm a cash buyer!

CaREI,

When you say So Cal, do you mean LA, or more like San Diego?

Thanks,

If your agent won't present offers below 15% of asking get another agent.
I am an agent and all offers must be submitted.

Having said that. If an agent continues to present a lot of low-ball offers on properties, other agents will start to guide their sellers to disregard offers from that agent. It is a small world and the agent wants to keep a good reputation in the real estate sales community. Most agents don't like investors any more than investors like agents.

In my state, we have a public access page to the MLS. You can input what much of the criteria your looking for and if you find a property your interested in, you can call the listing agent directly, instead of dealing with an agent who doesn't seem too interested in what your doing.

I have found that most good deals that come on the MLS end up with multiple offers and a bidding war. At least in my area. You really don't want to get involved with that. You always end up paying too much for the house.

There are good deals that come on the MLS, you just have to know what to look for. In my experience. The best properties are; REO's, short sales, and estate sales. Anything else is tough to get a decent price on. It happens, but it is incredibly rare.

Good luck,
Jim

Francisco,

The MLS is only ONE of the tools you should use to find deals. Depending on the area and market, the MLS may be a great hunting ground and at other times, great deals may be few and far between. Keep in mind, the majority of properties on the MLS (at least in my local MLS) are retail deals. Remember as investors, we're looking to buy wholesale and sell closer to retail (but not too close to retail, we want that puppy sold first and fast!). The more motivated a seller, the better chance we have of helping them out of their situation while obtaining the property at the price we need it to be. So offering 65% of market to a retail seller in the MLS (who may be motivated, but not THAT motivated to sell) may cause frustration.

I'm an agent so I hate to tell people to fire agents, so before firing this one, go through the steps outlined on this site about how to find an investor friendly agent to see if the relationship can be salvaged. If he/she understands your strategy better, they may be able to help you while they learn something new. Or you may just have to cut bait....

Lastly, sometimes, the asking price IS the price you're already looking for. I say that because I've had a new investor that wanted me to submit low ball offers on properties (mostly REOs that have been on the market for awhile) that were already great deals and their asking price was 30-40% of ARV. They seemed to ignore the comps info I provided and I told the buyer I felt the price was great and that we needed to make a strong offer, but they insisted every offer they made had to be well under asking price. Another investor snapped the property up while my buyer-investor felt frustrated.

To your success!
Kendall

LA & Orange

A real estate investing business is a business like any other. It requires marketing to find customers. In our case we need to be constantly building two lists--one of available properties, the other of people who want properties. Whenever we can create a match between these two lists, that's when we get paid.
The average successful business uses AT LEAST 25 different methods of marketing to build their clientelle. Think Coca Cola, a well established business, everyone has heard of Coca Cola, and yet their image is EVERYWHERE! They know that if they are not building business, they are losing business.
To be blunt, the investor who chooses to only use an agent as their method of finding properties is only playing at being a real estate investor. Each day you should be reviewing multiple online sites, driving neighborhoods, building your own network of bird dogs, etc. to have a continuous flow of available properties. Start with 5 methods, build to 10, keep going until you have 25 or more solid methods in place and are tracking your success in using each of them.
As an assist to finding properties, I posted an article called "51 Ways to Find Properties" in this forum. This article can be located by following the links under Real Estate Investing to Marketing to Buyers and Sellers, and then the post title "51 Ways to Find Properties."

I think if you are looking for x% below asking price, you are looking for the wrong thing. Sometimes, the asking price is already discounted, and it is all about timing. I have seen several properties get multiple offers within hours of listing and others go under contract the same day. I have found a few good sources for REO's, but one with the most up-to-date information is emailforeclosures.com . It also happens to be free and sends you an email alert when new ones come out so you can get your offer in before others.

You can go to those different sites for foreclosures, but just about all REO's are or will be listed, due to government regulations. So, it's likely to be futile.
Sometimes you may find a small community bank or credit union that you can access directly for REO's.

I thought I would pass on a little information on Foreclosures and Listings that I found on zillow. The first is from Marla Williams-Lopez (Agent):

"We live in a different world these days regarding foreclosures.

"Prior to 2005, banks would have a small portfolio of REO's (real estate owned / foreclosures) in a file drawer and they would auction them off, or sell direct or give to a Realtor.

"Since 2005, there have been close to 5,000,000 distressed properties. The banks are simply OVERWHELMED, and there is no one that has the authority to release the property. It simply MUST go thru the foreclosure mill, wherein it is given to a local Realtor to list (after necessary repairs, if any are taken care of)."

The second is from Michael Emery (agent):

"Generally most banks will use a Realtor to provide them with a valuation of the home and then have the agent list the home. So often it's not possible to make an offer until the property has been put on the market.

"If it's a small bank or credit union, you could ask them who they use to list their homes. Often smaller banks will use just one agent. If it's a larger bank, there's no telling what agent will be assigned the listing. Many banks use 3rd party sources to market foreclosures, which makes it even more difficult to reach out to them.

"There is a couple of things you can do now to ensure that you will be notified when the property is listed.

"1. Have your real estate agent set up an auto search for the home on the local MLS. This will generate an email to you when the property is 'active' on MLS.

"2. Check back periodically at the house. Often the listing agent will put some sign or business card on the property so police, etc can alert them if there's an issue with the property prior to listing. You (or your agent) could then call and request that you be notified when the home is listed. Sometimes that works, and sometimes it doesn't."

A couple of additional suggestions that may get you into a better connection to buy the REO property after foreclosure, but before it reaches the MLS:
1) Buy shares in the bank, you may be more capable of obtaining a list of the bank's asset list.
2) Offer to buy the loan with the property attached. It is possible for banks to sell a loan with attached security rather than selling the property. It may get you past the "gateway" agents to speak with a supervisor who actually has the authority to negotiate with you on the property. No guarantees on either of these, but they have worked for some people.

the REA has to submit any and all offers unless specified by seller.

Like someone already mentioned you dont always have to give a lower than asking price offer. I just got one last wk i offered $1k more than asking and i just got another one this wk that was $28K over asking!! and i know i will make $$ on both No Problem! Run your Numbers They Dont Lie!!

Just wanting to expand a little on the excellent advice given by Wollenj above. Your last statements, "Run your Numbers, They Don't Lie!!" should be converted to a big sign that everyone places in their office.
Many members of the program will tend to second guess everything that they are doing, and talk themselves out of making offers, or will miss an opportunity by delaying too long. We all need to calmly gather the necessary information, do our best job of estimating costs, get the best sales comparables possible, and then run our calculations using the program formulae.
As Wollenj mentioned, sometimes those numbers will be above asking price, sometimes they will be below. And occasionally, we will have received information that is inaccurate or inadequate. Make your offers based on the best information you could put together, make sure you include backout clauses in your offers in case you do need to terminate, and and then move on to the next property and offer. Some of your offers will be accepted, some rejected, and some countered. Over the course of your career, you will make hundreds or even thousands of offers, so one property is a drop in the bucket, and does not deserve the worry that is often given to it. Success comes from repeatedly doing the right things, not just once or a few times.